- Anthus cinnamomeus
Includes: Cameroon Pipit
Identification
15 to 17 cm
- Buff-brown streaky upperparts
- White or pale buff underparts
- Streaked breast
- Unstreaked belly and flanks
- Boldly patterned face; pale eyestripe, dark malar stripe
- Whitish outer tail-feathers
- Long pink legs
- Slender dark bill with a yellowish base to the lower mandible
Juvenile birds have a blotched breast, scalloping on the upperparts and some streaking on the flanks.
Similar Species
Long-billed Pipit, which has buff outer tail and a sparrow-like call.
Distribution
This is the most common Pipit in eastern and southern Africa.
Western Africa: Mauritania, Guinea, Mali, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Benin, Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Congo, Angola
Eastern Africa: Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Zambia, Mozambique, Malawi
Southern Africa: Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal, Lesotho, Swaziland
Middle East: Arabian Peninsula, Saudi Arabia, Yemen
Taxonomy
More than ten subspecies recognized.
This species was formerly regarded a part of a much larger species called Anthus novaseelandiae which was split in African Pipit, Mountain Pipit, Paddyfield Pipit, Richard's Pipit and Australasian Pipit.
Subspecies[1]
- A. c. lynesi:
- A. c. camaroonensis:
- Cameroon (Mount Cameroon and Mount Manenguba)
- A. c. stabilis:
- Central and south-eastern Sudan
- A. c. cinnamomeus:
- Highlands of western and south-eastern Ethiopia
- A. c. eximius:
- A. c. annae:
- A. c. itombwensis:
- Eastern Zaire (Itombwe Highlands and Mount Kabobo)
- A. c. lacuum:
- A. c. lichenya:
- North-eastern Angola to southern Zaire, western Uganda, western Tanzania and Mozambique
- A. c. spurius:
- North-eastern Namibia to northern Botswana, southern Malawi and southern Mozambique
- A. c. bocagei:
- Angola to Botswana, Zimbabwe, southern Mozambique and northern Cape Province
- A. c. grotei:
- A. c. rufuloides:
- South Africa (except north-west), Swaziland and Lesotho lowlands
Some authors split camaroonensis from Cameroon as Cameroon Pipit.
Habitat
Open habitats at altitudes of up to over 3000 m, grasslands and fields.
Behaviour
It has an undulating flight and can often be seen perching on posts and bushes. On the ground it walks with a strutting gait and often holds itself very erect.
Vocalisation
The song is a repeated series of twittering notes, given during an undulating song-flight or from a low perch.
References
- Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
- Avibase
- Birdforum thread discussing id of an African Pipit
- Wikipedia
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) African Pipit. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 26 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/African_Pipit
